Wurtzilite product and apparatus



No. 620,082. Patented Feb. 2|, I899. C. E. ANTHONY. WUBTZILITE PRODUCTAND APPARATUS.

(Application filed Oct. 15, 1896.)

( No Model.)

wuemtoz Cit/4x7 7%00 a E F UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

ASSIGNMENTS, TO FRED RENNER, JR., OF HASTINGS, NEBRASKA.

WVUQRTZILITE PRODUCT AND APPARATUS].

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 620,082, datedFebruary 21, 1899. Application filed October 15, 1896. Serial No.608,990. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. ANTHONY, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State ofColorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvementskin aW'urtzilite Product and Apparatus; andI do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains' to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and. to thefigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

plained in these Wurtzilite is described by Prof. W. P. Blake in anarticle in The Engineering and Mining Journal of December 21, 1889, asa' newlydiscovered and peculiar bitumen, and he comments uponits lack offusibility and solubility, stating that it takes fire and burns with abright luminous flame with a slight crep'itationtand that it resists theusual solvents of bitumen. Dr. Henry VVurtz, in articles which appear inthe said Jou-rnals issues of January 11 and 25, 1890, also comments uponthe insolubility of wurtzilite and its failure to fuse under atmosphericpressure.

Many of the characteristics of wurtzilite eX- articles are such as toindicate a commercial value of the material ;but

its lack of fusibility and solubility has thus far baffled'attempts toutilize it in the arts.

My invention provides for the conversion of this heretofore practicallyuseless material into a commercial product capable of utilization in thearts as readily as caoutchouc and the invention consists in a newmanufacture having most of the physical characteristics of wurtzilite,but readily soluble in the ordinary solvents for reducing caoutchouc andlike substances--such, for example, as spirits of turpentine, bisulfidof carbon, naphtha, or chloroformand also fusible in an ordinary vessel,and therefore a product having the desired commercial attributes. Iattain this result by pursuing the following-described method: aquantity'of crude wurtzilite is placed in an air-tight vessel or retortand heated to about 600 Fahrenheit, with the effect, in perhaps an hourstime, of evolving a light gas, which in tu rn attacks the wurtzilite,

'ble in an ordinary vessels.

first reducing it to a spongy mass and after which is. drawn offfromtheretort may be immediately utilized in its hot tion, or it may bepartially cooled and solidified and then worked in somesuitableapparatus, such as employed with caoutchouc. Again, it may be completelycooled and hardened for storage or transportation, for it is liquidcondino longer the intractable crude wurtzilite, but

the common moreover, fusi- Thus from crude heretofore val uelesscommercially,

a product readily soluble in cao'utchouc solvents, and is,

wurtzilite, I produce Among the practical uses to which this product canbe put may be mentioned the following: in a liquid condition as a paintor varnish ingredient or as an insulating covering, and in a plasticstate as a covering for textile fabrics to be used as belting, clothing,roofing, or in other appropriate Ways. It is especially useful for suchpurposes as roofing, where the-characteristics of the crude wurt ziliteretained by the new product are of great advantage.

In form, elasticity, electric character, the quite closely with thecrude wurtzilite; but while the latter decomposes before reaching thefusion-point the product is readily fusible, and, as before set forth,the chief distinction is in the solubility of the product. It may beadded that when a flame is applied to the product it does. not take fireand burn with crepitation, as the crude wurtzilite does, but simplymelts.

There are different grades of wurtzilite in which the characteristicsdiscovered by Pro-- fessor Blake are more or less pronounced, and so theproduct will vary correspondingly; but subjected to the process hereindescribed wurtzilite of any known variety is converted into a solubleand fusible product. Of course hardness, color, and

a product of great utility in the arts.

the process may be-varied in the matterof the l a strong bituminousodor.

degree of heat or the duration of time the crude material is subjectedto treatment.

Form Amorphous in homogeneous masses.--At ordinary temperatures and whencold it becomes somewhat brittle and breaks with a large conchoidalfracture, giving very brilliant glossy surfaces, with a vitreous lusterlike uintahite, or itself in its original condition resembling inappearance the splendent conchoidal surfaces of newly-broken obsidian.It has, however, a decided tough quality, which increases with anelevation of temperature. Ithas wonderful cleavage properties at alltemperatures. At high temperatures it requires a sharper blow to breakit than at the lower temperatures. At temperatures above the ordinary itbecomes so tough and rubber-like that it cannot be powdered, while atthe lower temperatures it can be powdered, yet when chipped intofragments each fragment shows intense cleavage properties. Even thesmallest of these show a decided resistance to separate into a powder bydislaying a cleavage quality.

Elasticity-4m elastic qualities depend largely upon the temperature.When cold, it is brittle and shows no elasticity, while at temperaturesabove the ordinary it is elastic, and when bent will again assume itsoriginal shape. When drawn out into thin masses while reasonably warm itrecedes quite a bit. Its elasticity at temperatures above the ordinaryis much greater than asphaltum products, having more tensile strength,and may be compared with a thick well-kneaded flourdough, having,however, greater tensility and being harder and tougher, or very muchlike amass of rubber. It can be called flexible and subelastic and issectile and cuts like born.

brown.

-Hard-ness.-At ordinary temperatures it can be impressed with the nail.It leaves a soft brown mark on paper. Its condition changes somewhatwith the temperature, being reasonably hardat low, getting tougher andmore pliable as never becoming so soft (from sun heat) as to adhere tothe fingers or run. In general it is identical with the wurtzilite inits original state.

Colon-Fine black with a slight shade to a The extreme thin edges of theflakes obtained by fracture are garnet red by transmitted light, oftenbrilliantly so.' It would thus appear to be transparent in very thinplates and to be deep red in color. The color of the mass by reflectedlight is a glossy jet black, like uintahite or wurtzilite in itsorlginal state. 7

Fusibzltty.-It does not fuse or melt in boiling water, but becomessofter, tougher, and

plastic, and more elastic, but not viscid or sticky to the. fingers,although fragments slightly cohere. Brought near the flame of a candleit softens and melts, does not take fire,

but emits a little smoke. ivin off a gas and the temperature rises,

Heated in any kind of kettle or vessel it gives off a dense cloud ofwhite and yellow smoke of strong odor, and while it requires a high heatto dissolve it it does not require the addition of any other oils ormaterials.

Solubility-4t dissolves very easily in a kettle or any kind of ordinaryvessel at high te1n peratures without the addition of any oils.

When finely ground or powdered, it readily dissolves in spirits ofturpentine, gasolene, bisulfid of carbon, sulfuric ether, andchloroform. Alcohol has no efiect on it.

Electric characters-It is a good electric. Negative electricity iseasily developed in it by friction. It will be found valuable as aninsulating material and for other purposes in the arts. It does notabsorb moisture. It is a non-conductor of heat, cold, and electricity toa remarkable degree. Heat softensit without melting, but .upon raisingthe temperature alittle above 500 Fahrenheit it begins to dissolve,emitting a gas of strong odor. In powdering it it does not leave a stainor fine dust like uintabite.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, Ihave illustrated a form of apparatus specially designed for carrying onthe process above explained andproducing the new product.

In said drawings, Figure 1 represents the apparatus in longitudinalsection. Fig. 2 represents the retortdetached in end elevation. In asuitably-constructed brick furnace a retort 5 is arranged, said retortbeing .of cylindrical form and slightly inclined from front to rear andsupported in openings made for it in the end walls of the furnace. Theends of this retort are closed by heads 5, which are securely bolted on,but removable for cleaning purposes.

The interior of the furnace below the retort is divided into twofire-boxes 15 and 19, with ash-pits 15 said fire-boxes runningapproximately threefourths of the length of the retort, while the otheris of correspondingly limited extent and considerably deeper.

Suitable bridgework separates the fireand 19? below the same, one ofboxes and within the smaller one 19 there de- I pends a reservoir 16,which is secured to the bottom of the retort around an opening thereinat the rear end. It will be remembered that the bottom of the ret'ortinclines from front to rear, and, therefore, li'quefied matter in theretort will flow over the bottom thereof and into the said reservoir,whence it can be drawn off through a pipe 17,1eading out of the centerof the dished bottom of said reservoir and being equipped with; a valve18.

The retort is fed at its front portion, where a cylinder 6is secured toits upper side around an opening therein and projects through the top ofthe furnace and contains within it a funnel 7, whose lower end is closedby a conits stem 9 is jointed at 10 to one end of ale- I 'e2o,os2 3 ver12, which is pivoted at 13 intermediate its ends to a bracket-on theside of the hopper, and which carries on its outer arm an adjustableweight 14.-

I 5 A short distance back of the hopper a vent-' pipe 20 rises out ofthe top of the retort and through the top of the furnace, and said pipeis formed with bends taking its outer. open end down into a tank B,containing water,-as

indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Fires are maintained in both of the fireboxes and 19, and a charge ofwurtzilite introduced into the' retort through the hopper-6 7 and pastthe valve 8 is first subjected 1' 5 to intense heat generated in thefire-box 15, and upon becoming liquefied in the manner hereinbeforedescribed will run into the reservoir 16, which is directly exposed to acomparatively moderate heat generated in the fire-box- 19, sufiicient tokeep the substance at the proper consistency for readily drawing it off.The retort is kept closed with the ex-.

ception of the vent through the pipe 20, which provides for escape of asmall percentage of gas suflicientto relieve pressure in the retort.Thus the efiectshereinbefore explained take place with respect to thewurtzilite and the product drawn ofi through the pipe 17 is the productof my invention. i p

The gas passing over through the pipe 20 is preferably condensed in thewater-tank B, but may be allowed to escape to the atmosphere withoutbeing so condensed.

Of course the above-described apparatus is only one of many which mightbe employed 55 to carry out the invention; adapted for the forms ofstills. p M

Having thus fully described my invention," what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by 40 Letters Patent of the United States, is'

1. A soluble and fusible wurtzilite product possessing thecharacteristics of the crude material in form, elasticity, hardness,color and electric properties, substantially as described. v H

2. An apparatus of the character described butit is better 1' purposethan the ordinary comprising a retort having a bottom inclined fromendto end .and' a reservoir depending from said-bottom at the low end,together 5c- With afurnace having a fire-box around the reservoir and aseparate fire-box under the inclined bottom of the retort, substantiallyasand for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 5 in presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES E. ANTHONY. Witnesses: v

ISHAM R. HOWZE, ALFRED J. OBRIEN.

